We are excited to announce an upcoming event that promises to be both intellectually stimulating and deeply rewarding: a transcribathon with a training session! This event, provided by Biblissima+ with additional support from the ATRIUM project, offers participants the chance to engage with historical manuscripts while honing their transcription skills under the guidance of expert trainers.

Event Overview: The transcribathon will span three days, comprising a mix of training sessions and hands-on transcription activities. Here's what you can expect:

• Day 1: Accelerated Training on eScriptorium - Participants will kick off the event with a half-day training session focused on mastering the eScriptorium platform, a powerful tool for manuscript transcription.
• Days 2 and 3: Transcription Sessions - The bulk of the event will be dedicated to transcribing manuscripts across various languages and time periods. Teams of 4 to 5 individuals, formed based on interests and corpus preferences, will collaborate on transcribing documents ranging from medieval Latin manuscripts to modern handwritten texts.
• Day 3: Reflection and Prize Ceremony - The event will conclude with a half-day session for reflecting on the transcription process, followed by a prize ceremony to recognize the best dataset, considering factors such as composition, metadata quality, and overall data accuracy.

Key Highlights:

• Hands-on experience with historical manuscripts in Latin, Arabic, Greek, and potentially Hebrew scripts.
• Collaboration with expert trainers to refine transcription skills.
• Opportunity to propose documents for transcription, fostering participant engagement and contribution.
• Opportunity to publish an ATR training dataset
• Access to a dedicated mailing list and Discord channel for seamless communication and support throughout the event.
• Teaching provided in English, with support in French and Spanish.

Participant Allocation and Bursaries:

• Local Participants: 10 places are allocated for local participants, which include dinner and lunch thanks to the Biblissima+ infrastructure.
• Participants working in France: 10 fully funded places are available for national participants, covering transportation, hotel accommodation, dinner, and lunch thanks to the Biblissima+ infrastructure.
• Participants working on European soil: 5 fully funded places are provided for European participants, covering all expenses, thanks to the ATRIUM project
• For participants not working on European soil: Extra-European candidates cannot receive travel reimbursements. However, they are eligible for "local" grants (excluding hotel) and national grants (including hotel). Please specify the targeted funding in the application.

Event Details:

• Date: Wednesday, September 11th to Friday, September 13th, 2024
• Location: École normale supérieure de Lyon
• Application Deadline: June 15th, 2024
• Selection Results: June 30th, 2024
• Corpus Proposals Deadline: July 14th, 2024
• Final Proposal Submission: September 2nd, 2024

These sessions are open to all students and research-affiliated staff, with priority given to doctoral candidates, permanent researchers and engineers . We also welcome second-year master's students and postdoctoral fellows looking to deepen their knowledge. If you are in your first year of a master's program and have a keen interest in automatic text recognition, feel free to submit your application.

How to Apply: To participate in this unique transcribathon experience, simply submit your application including your CV and a brief letter of motivation outlining your interest in manuscript transcription and any specific corpus preferences in the ‘My submissions’ tab (see How to apply).

Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to delve into the world of manuscript transcription and contribute to historical scholarship!

Organisation committee: Thibault Clérice (Inria) and Ariane Pinche (CNRS)

trainers : Enki Baptiste, Julie Bordier, Olivier Brisville, Thibault Clérice, Simon Gabay, Matthias Gille Levenson, Ariane Pinche, Marianne Reboul.

Comité d'organisation : Thibault Clérice (Inria) et Ariane Pinche (CNRS)

This training course is organized within the framework of the ÉquipEx Biblissima+, which benefits from state aid managed by the ANR under the Programme d'investissements d'avenir integrated into France 2030, bearing the reference ANR-21-ESRE-0005.